COMMUNITY FORUM

no you can fish wires through walls with a minimal amount of damage if you know what you're doing and you have the correct tools.i've done quite a bit of this and i know a lot of tricks and have lots and lots of tools.

but is the wire in such bad shape it won't handle this light fixture.

i could see not wanting to put an a/c or something but a 60 watt bulb?

I was checking for information about wiring insulators for older homes - before 1985. Read about this on a light fixture purchased at Home Depot. The concern is when I removed the old fixture due to a spark and flicker, I noticed it was all black inside and the fixture wiring appeared to be burnt. I checked another fixture in the house and found the same thing: burnt fixture wires. Oh Oh - A real fire hazard.

Question: Where do I get fixtures with lower temperature ratings? Like 60 degrees C for wire? And, therefore help prevent an electrical fire.

Also, advice to one posting (which I read on this site) to go ahead and mount a fixture, ignoring the warnings was NOT a good answer.

BV001047

11:35PM | 05/16/13

Well!!! I'm glad that I found this site (subject). All the information that has been tossed around is good to know, but it can be confusing. I learned what I know about working with electrical wiring for a home from a friend that worked for the power company. I've done a lot of wiring projects and have't electrocuted myself, or burnt anything up yet. I do know that if there is anything I'm not sure about, that I'm working on I will look the problem up or ask someone that knows or get an licsensed electrician to fix it. I appreciate all the info. What brought me here is the new light fixtures that I just purchased from Lowe's, in the instruction manual it talks about checking the supply conductors and the branch circuit. I never did think to much about the min. 90 degree C supply conductors and the branch circuits conductor, but I have really learned a lot. My house was built in the 1955-65 era. I've changed all the lighting in the house over the last 15 years I've owned it, all but the master bath, that I'm now working on. I'm putting two pendant lights in, one on each side of our new medicine cabinet. I guess the pendants would not be as hazardous as the ceiling mount type, never the less I just changed all the light bulbs to the new CFL lights and I will be using them in my new lights also. I want to share this with anyone that might want to change. I went to my Power Co.'s web sight and did a home power survey and usage estimate and they sent me a whole box of the CFL bulbs, LID night lights and water saver heads for my fausets, free of charge just by doing the survey and usage estimate.
Mel

c

BV001433

07:49AM | 06/29/13

This is fascinating.

It turns out that rating a fixture for an incandescent bulb and rating for a CFL are, looking at it from a physicists point of view, DIFFERENT THINGS.

I just bought a fixture rated 100W incandescent that apparently can heat the box to up to over 60 deg C according to the warning. That means that if I put a 100W (actual wattage, not equivalent) CFL into it (well, the most I could get would be 66W for a 300W equivalent, but leave that aside), it would likely heat the box to over 60 deg C. But, if the bulb wall gets above 45 deg C the bulb loses efficiency and in a sense fails. This fixture would certainly heat the bulb to above 45 deg C if it heats the box to above 60 deg C, so it is not rated for 100W CFL (actual wattage, not equivalent) even if the box wires are 90deg C rated and the fixture is rated 100W incandescent.

CFL bulb wall and LED substrate temps, according to a quick scan of the web, both operate best noticeably below 45 deg C.

So fixtures should be rated for how many actual W they can handle and still keep the bulbs at say 40 deg C so the bulbs will remain efficient.
UL has not caught on yet it seems.